Q. Shalom, Washing dishes with liquid dish soap & cold water on Shabbat is allow as far as I know. May I use a dish cloth or sponge to make the dish & tableware 100% clean? Thank you for your previous help.

A. Washing dishes in general is only permitted if there is a possibility that the clean dishes will be used again during this Shabbat, or the unclean dishes may attract flies or other insects. (Shmirath Shabbat 12,1-3). Using cold water and liquid soap is permitted, even if it creates bubbles, (Beer Moishe 8,248). It is preferred though, to further dissolve the soap by mixing it with water before Shabbat (Igroth Moisheh 1, 113). You cannot use a cloth or a sponge for dishwashing on Shabbat or Yom Tov as the absorbed water is squeezed out causing S’chita, (a Toldah or derivative Melachah of Dosh or threshing), even if the sponge has a handle or vinyl backing attached. Using them when totally submerged underwater is also prohibited. Scrubbing with a brush whose fibres are soft and dense will cause S’chita too. However if the bristles are of stiff synthetic material and are sparse enough not to hold water then brushing is permitted. The same applies to wire mesh or plastic mesh pads whose coils and fibres are thin and netting is widely spaced, where the liquid is merely trapped by surface tension but not truly absorbed. Shmirat Shabbat (ibid. note 46), quotes the explanation of Rav Shlomo Z. Auerbach Zt’l, that in this case you do not regard the brush or pad as one single absorbing unit, but it is more like a vessel or pipe that contains and stores the liquid. Pouring from it, as pouring from a bottle, would not be a Melochoh. This could be tested before Shabbos, by submerging the brush or pad in water and observing if water drains out readily as it is removed, or has to be squeezed out. (see 39 Melachoth sec. 3/H/g)

Rabbi Abraham Bartfeld – Revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a